The Arizona Senate has given initial approval to a bill opponents say is designed to make it easier to cut off Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood Arizona and other abortion providers. House Bill 2599 passed on a voice vote Tuesday and awaits a formal vote. The House passed the bill last month with only Republicans in support. The bill allows the state to cut off funding and revoke licenses for providers that fail to segregate taxpayer money from funds used to provide abortions. They...

The Republican-controlled Arizona House has scheduled votes on three bills already passed by the Senate that target abortion or abortion providers. Senate Bill 1324 bars doctors from prescribing a common abortion drug after seven weeks of pregnancy and requires it to be taken only in FDA-approved doses. Most abortions using RU-486 are now done at much lower doses. Courts blocked a similar 2012 law. Senate Bill 1474 bars abortion providers from transferring fetal tissue for use in research....

The Arizona House has passed a bill Planned Parenthood Arizona says is designed to make it easier to cut it off from Medicaid funding. House Bill 2599 passed Wednesday on a 35-24 party-line vote without discussion with only Republicans in support. It now heads to the Senate. The bill allows the state to cut off funding and revoke licenses for providers that fail to segregate taxpayer money from funds used to provide abortions. They also could lose funding if they violated medical waste rules...

The number of abortions reported in Arizona is down. A state report says there were 12,900 reported abortions performed in Arizona in 2014. That's down 3.7 percent from the 13,401 reported abortions performed in 2013 in Arizona. About three-quarters of the abortions performed in 2014 involved surgical procedures, while the remainder used a medication-induced procedure. The report also says nearly 99 percent of the reported abortions in 2014 were elective — not provided to women for medical...